The present invention generally relates to a system and a method for managing, controlling and/or rendering media in a network. More specifically, the present invention relates to a system and a method that utilize a media management application to manage, control and/or render media from a collection of digital media files in the network. The system and the method allow a user to browse, search, manage and/or render content from multiple storage devices and/or servers in the network. The user may view a visual representation of active media connections between the available servers and/or the available rendering devices connected to the network.
It is well known for a user to obtain media for consumption in the home using several distinct channels. For example, television content may be delivered via terrestrial broadcast or a dedicated cable connection and/or may be consumed using a traditional television. Radio broadcasts and/or music broadcasts may be received and/or consumed via radio receivers or stereo units. Media, such as movies, television shows, television series, music albums and the like, may be purchased on digital versatile disc (“DVD”), videotape, compact disc (“CD”) or the like, and the media may be played by media players in the home. Moreover, the user may record television broadcasts and/or radio broadcasts to collect content according to personal preferences. Traditionally, the television broadcasts and/or the radio broadcasts may be recorded using video tapes or audio cassettes. Further, the television broadcasts and/or the radio broadcasts may be recorded using more modern technology, such as a Digital Video Recorder (“DVR”) or a DVD recorder device. Therefore, the user may build a personal media collection to match their personal preferences via a combination of media purchases and broadcast recording.
However, individual media objects in the personal media collection may be linked to specific physical media, such as, for example, a CD, a DVD, a videotape or the like. The individual media objects in the personal media collection may be confined to a specific device, such as, for example, a DVR associated with a single specific rendering device.
The recent emergence of home networking technologies, combined with the increasing popularity of digital media files, is improving usefulness of home media collections. The user may purchase audio titles and/or video titles online as media files that may be collected on one or more storage devices in a home network. The user may browse the media files remotely from one or more “control points” in the network and may consume a specific media file on any compatible rendering device connected to the home network. In addition, some types of media, such as, for example, audio CDs, home movies, physical photographs and the like, may be converted to digital media files that may be organized and/or may be consumed via the home network. The ability to organize, browse and consume media is enhanced by the availability of home networking technologies, such as IEEE 802.11, and connection technologies, such as Universal Plug and Play (“UPnP”) and Digital Living Network Alliance (“DLNA”). The home networking technologies and the connection technologies allow distribution of multimedia content between various storage devices and associated rendering devices in the home network.
Current multimedia home networking solutions are an improvement over past systems. However, existing control point applications and media management tools are typically lacking in functionality. A control point application is an application which controls UPnP compatible servers and UPnP compatible rendering devices. For example, a control point application may allow the user to browse and/or find content, such as a digital video file or a digital audio file, that is stored on a particular UPnP server. The control point application may allow the user to transmit the content to a particular UPnP rendering device for consumption. A typical control point application may run on a personal computer (“PC”) attached to the home network, may be embedded in a “remote control” device, and/or may be embedded on the particular UPnP rendering device. The control point application may be executed on a portable computing device, such as, for example, a mobile telephone or a Personal Digital Assistant (“PDA”).
Typically, the control point application allows the user to select a storage device, such as a UPnP compliant server, and browse available content via a directory hierarchy exposed on the selected storage device. The control point application allows the user to choose a content object or compilation from the content objects and compilations available on the selected storage device. A compilation is a user-defined list of media objects, such as, for example, an audio playlist, photo albums and/or a digital photo slideshow. The control point application allows the user to select the desired rendering device and initiate rendering of the selected content object or compilation.
All of these steps are not required in all cases. For example, an embedded control point in a DLNA-compliant television does not require the user to choose a rendering device because the television would be selected by default. These steps are substantially similar to the standard protocol defined for UPnP Audio and Video (AV) playback. Therefore, a typical media management and control application merely implements the standard protocols defined in the UPnP specification and/or the DLNA specification. The control point application typically automates some tasks, such as, for example, generating and displaying a multiple choice list of relevant devices. However, browsing media often involves manual browsing through the media directories on a particular server. Thus, selection of media may not be efficient, intuitive or enjoyable to the user. The typical control point application does not provide a user-friendly means to create compilations.
A media management application is typically a PC application used to manage a collection of media stored on the PC. Examples of the media management application are iTunes (registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.) and SimpleCenter (registered trademark of Universal Electronics, Inc.). The media management application presents a user interface (“UI”) which allows the user to browse the media collection, search the media collection using metadata tags associated with the media objects, create and manage compilations of media objects, and directly consume media on the PC which runs the application. The media management application may have DLNA server capabilities; for example, SimpleCenter has a DLNA compliant server. The media management application may allow the user to transfer selected media to portable media players and other similar devices.
However, a limitation of the typical media management application is that use of the media management application is limited to local media which is resident to and/or is accessible by the PC which runs the media management application. The typical media management application is not designed to organize, search, manage, or operate media which may be distributed across numerous DLNA compliant servers throughout the home network. Furthermore, the compilation objects created by and/or managed by the typical media management application may be limited to referencing media objects which are resident to and/or accessible by the PC which runs the media management application. The media management application may not be capable of creating a compilation object which combines media objects distributed across different servers in the home network.
The typical media management application provides an effective UI for editing and managing compilations. However, another limitation of the typical media management application is that the media management application requires the user to create and save a compilation object so that the compilation object may be used to specify media to be sent to a selected rendering device. However, the user may wish to associate media objects for immediate consumption and direct the resulting list of media objects to the rendering device without the need to save a permanent compilation object such as an audio playlist. For example, the user may wish to associate media objects for immediate consumption based on a current preference of the user. If the user is merely arranging the media objects for current consumption, the media management application requirement that the user create and save the compilation object is disadvantageous. The compilation object occupies disk space and space on the display, and the compilation object may have no future relevance to the user.
Because existing media management applications are limited to managing the local media which is resident to and/or is accessible by the PC which runs the media management application, the user may need to operate several copies of the media management application on different PCs located in different areas of the home. The several copies of the media management application on different PCs allow the user to locally manage each sub-collection of media. However, each of the several copies of the media management application usually do not recognize each other and/or do not communicate between one another. A lack of recognition and/or communication between the several copies of the media management application is disadvantageous for the user. For example, the user of one copy of the media management application may not be able to access, edit, manage and/or use compilation objects which were created by and stored locally to a different copy of the media management application. Furthermore, the user of one copy of the media management application may not be able to view a queue of media objects which are in the process of being rendered on a specific rendering device if the queue is initiated by and/or is being managed by a different copy of the media management application.
Another issue for the existing media management applications is management of complexity in the home network. As the media sources and/or the media rendering devices increase in number, tracking and controlling transmission of media from multiple sources to multiple different devices may be increasingly difficult for the user. A functional picture of the entire home network may be difficult for the user to envision. Controlling, managing and/or troubleshooting the entire home network may be difficult as well.
A clear, centralized and intuitive view of the entire home network may allow the user to monitor how media is transmitted between devices. Thus, the user may observe the vitality of the network, and the user may easily modify how media is transmitted between the devices. For example, the view of the entire home network may allow the user to duplicate an existing media stream to be played back simultaneously on multiple rendering devices. As a further example, the view of the entire home network may allow the user to easily and intuitively switch an active media stream from a first rendering device to a second rendering device. Typical media management and control applications do not provide the view of the entire home network. A network view is provided in some home network configuration tools, such as, for example, the EasyLink Advisor tool from Linksys, a division of Cisco, Inc. However, these existing home network configuration tools are not focused on media and do not indicate how media devices are interacting in the home network. Moreover, the existing home network configuration tools do not provide functionality for controlling media in the home network.
A need, therefore, exists for a system and a method for managing, controlling and/or rendering media in a network. Further, a need exists for a system and a method for managing, controlling and/or rendering media from a collection of digital media files in the network. Still further, a need exists for a system and a method for managing, controlling and/or rendering media in a network that allow a user to browse, search, manage and/or consume content from multiple storage devices and/or servers in the network. Still further, a need exists for a system and a method for managing, controlling and/or rendering media in a network that allow a user to view the network in its entirety. Still further, a need exists for a system and a method for managing, controlling and/or rendering media in a network that allow a user to view, control and/or modify media connections between devices in the network. Still further, a need exists for a system and a method for managing, controlling and/or rendering media in a network that allow multiple copies of an Enhanced Media Management application to communicate with each other. Moreover, a need exists for a system and a method for managing, controlling and/or rendering media in a network that allow multiple copies of an Enhanced Media Management application to provide identical views of the home network, compilation objects, rendering queues, and/or other data which are managed by the multiple copies of the Enhanced Media Management application.